The project “Valuable Creativity” focuses on creativity as a key competence and necessary skill for adults working in companies and organizations who are challenged by rapid and disruptive changes due digitalization; and similar high demand of climate protection; energy saving and transformation to circular economy. “Valuable Creativity” is a project aimed to find and present solutions for creativity development on one of the most difficult adult education disciplines; Workplace learning! The project shall collect knowledge, methods and experience on how it is possible to introduce creativity methods where the need for creativity is high, but where the conditions in terms of time and possibility to organize creativity learning often are the most limited. The partner-organizations Prios; SIEA and Progress Consult have a long experience in delivering innovation and training programs to production and service-industry. The partners will through their cooperation with adult education providers, adult educators and in-service trainers from the SME industry collect the most promising methods and cases on how creativity can be addressed to actual workplace and company situations. Based on this collection, they will develop a hands-on training and capacity building material, which can show how creative processes and creative learning methods can be used to involve employees at all levels of the company into changing processes. The aim is also to present how adult educators and/or artists interested in transforming their creative abilities into actual workplace settings can be organized. The criteria is to keep a strong focus on the value created in companies, but also value in the broader sense of more sustainable production, corporate responsibility and resilience. The training material will appear as a full virtual format in three sections; an Open Education Resource (OER); two training MOOCs and an impact assessment tool. The OER will contain the relevant themes about creativity learning in workplace settings. Through text, interviews, infographics and videoclips it will justify how important creativity is to solve some of the most urgent challenges of the companies, and how such learning processes can be initiated. The OER will highlight the impact of creativity learning and it will present some of the most tangible pathways to implementation, will be designed as an entrance point for the Project. The OER will be open source and presented in four languages, and make the partners able to communicate awareness about this topic to all cooperation partners in their respective countries. The OER gives the knowledge base for two effective, online training programs organized as MOOCs. The first MOOC will be aimed at the target group of adult educators, artists interested in working with business and industry and also in-service trainers from the Industry. It will give them an introduction course on how to approach creativity at the workplace and how to find the right methodology to create value in the form of pattern-breaking learning. The target group of the second MOOC are company managers, HR Managers and those responsible for in-service training. The course will introduce cases on how companies successfully have used creative methods to bring forward new solutions of products, new markets, sustainability plans, eco-innovative production and new ways of work-organization. The OER and the two MOOCS will appear as one “Valuable Creativity” digital training program and will be available and delivered through a joint Learning Management System. The virtual training material (e-learning) will be accessible in 4 languages. Each partner will introduce the material country-wise and the English version will appear as a learning resource within the European Basic Skills Network and potentially through the EPALE. A component in the program ensures that it is possible to invite people from art and cultural production to participate in design and communication of the material. The training materials will be tested through direct assessment from invited people/companies from the target group. The results of this will be concluded in the assessment tool for creativity impact, which is an integrated part of the MOOCs. Creativity training is not a new phenomenon. It has been used in HR development, and it has been used within the creative industry. “Valuable Creativity” has the mission to bring creativity learning and training into the field of workplace learning and to present it as a relevant part of modern basic skills required for all industries and companies on the edge of 4th industrial revolution, where artificial intelligence, robotics and growing climate crises will create ground-breaking changes for all working places and to cope with the growing disruption of workplaces.
• “Valuable Creativity” is aimed to find and present solutions for creativity development in one of the most difficult adult education disciplines, Workplace learning! The project collects knowledge, methods, and experience on how it is possible to introduce creativity methods, where the need for creativity is high and even crucial for companies to survive, and where the conditions in terms of time and possibility to organize creativity learning often are the most limited. • The project also aims to help artists as the general profession, where the COVID-pandemic has had a heavily negative impact. To explore and show artists a potential business/service opportunity in which they can put their creative side to work. • Providing professional development opportunities for adult learning teachers • Explain to CEOs and managers why it's important to allow creativity to flourish and how it can benefit the company. • Helping company managers to foster corporate creativity to make their organisations more resilient and competitive in an ever-challenging world.
The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) report; “Future of Jobs” predicts that by 2025, the world will see a loss of 85 million jobs within the traditional industries and service sector. It also predicts the creation of 133 million jobs thanks to the digital revolution. It does not require much imagination to understand that this will need to be followed by a significant reconstruction of existing skills and competencies. WEF has tried to predict the needs of future workplaces and the labour market. Among the most significant skills are: “Analytical thinking and innovation; Creativity, originality and initiative; Technology design and programming and Critical thinking!”. Developing creativity in companies are essential to remain competitive as an individual and as a company also. This requires that: - Managers understand why creativity development is needed and how it can be done - Managers to be able to create the space for creativity and boost creativity in the company - Adult and workplace learning for professionals to provide creativity development - Artists who can communicate their creative potential and inspire others, - Artists who have the basic skills needed to deliver competence-building sessions The participating organisations in “Valuable Creativity” are providers of learning solutions for the SME sector in each country, and have by experience and evidence realised the urgent needs for companies to insert creativity methods and also release the creative potentials of their staff, as a matter of survival of most companies.